Friday, February 24, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
turning on that phone in the am
We are going to institute a new "reminder" to be sure that we turn the phones on at the Circ Desk in the morning. As you may know, if we do not "take our phones back" in the morning, the calls are routed to city hall. The new reminder is a sign that says "Unforward the phone". The night staff will put this sign on the phone as part of the closing procedure.
Remember that when Gary comes by to open the door, that this is a cue to check: Have I "unforwarded" that Circulation phone?
Thank you for helping to be sure that library calls get to the library and not to City Hall!
Remember that when Gary comes by to open the door, that this is a cue to check: Have I "unforwarded" that Circulation phone?
Thank you for helping to be sure that library calls get to the library and not to City Hall!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
New! Important/Retaining Last Patron Information
Dear Everyone ,
We have a great new feature! We will be able to see the last patron who had an item.
This can be useful if an item was damaged or incomplete and we did not "catch" the name of who had the material last. It can also be useful if someone left something in the book and we noticed it after the item got checked in.
We can use this information discreetly but, of course, can not tell the "current" person who the last person was.
The F5 for withdrawing function key will be compromised until we get the macro reset.
Please read below and stay tuned for updates!
Louise
Retaining Last Patron Information
Reason for implementation
It is anticipated that access to the last patron information will be helpful to library staff when an item is checked in without all of its parts. This will also be helpful to libraries implementing an automated sort and checkin solution.
How it works
Innovative adds a fixed field to the Item record called LPATRON (Last Patron). When an item is checked in, the system updates the LPATRON fixed field with the patron’s Pnumber. The next time this item is checked in, the most recent patron’s Pnumber will replace the previous one.
Effect on Millennium Client macros (Function Keys)
Some macros in use will need to be edited due to the rearrangement of the item fixed fields. For example, if a library used a macro to withdraw an item by updating both the ICODE2 and the Item Status filed, the navigation between the ICODE2 field and the Item Status field will need to change due to the insertion of an extra fixed field.
Until a library’s macros have been changed, staff can directly edit the 2 fields in the example cited above.
If a macro simply enters a string of characters it will not be affected by this implementation. Only macros which navigate from field to field of the item record will be affected.
Information about constructing macros in Millennium Clients can be found at:
http://staff.minlib.net/content/writing-macros-and-setting-function-keys
Also see:
Acquisition and Cataloging Function Keys: http://staff.minlib.net/node/1805
Circulation Function Keys: http://staff.minlib.net/node/1806
Writing Macros: http://staff.minlib.net/content/writing-macros
An example of a populated Lpatron field can be found on the Test server for item: 33016002869623
For more details see; http://staff.minlib.net/membership-committee/2012-01-18/retaining-last-p... (using Method 1 only)
Q. Is the data accessible from a patron record?
A. No, only from a given item record.
Q. Do I need to use supervisory initials to see this data in Millennium
Friday, February 17, 2012
More on Franklin and other non-certifed libraries
Here's the "skinny" on what will happen with the Franklin requests and library users who live in Franklin.
1) The paging list will not include items that are being requested for pick up at Franklin. We will not be supplying our materials to Franklin until they regain their certification. If you check in an item and it wants to route to Franklin to fill a request, do not send the item. Use check in and do not fulfill hold.
2) If someone has the PTYPE of Franklin (meaning they live in Franklin) and they try to check out an item, we will get the following message:
Loan rule says "non circulating" and we will get a choice to Override or Do Not override.
DO NOT OVERRIDE IN THIS CASE! Explain to the user that they are welcome to use our library. We love having them! We would urge that they contact their local town officials and lobby for the recertification of their library.
This will probably not come up very often. The numbers show that there were only 136 checkouts to Franklin residents at Waltham in FY11.
Questions? Let me know!
Let's hope Franklin gets their certification soon!
1) The paging list will not include items that are being requested for pick up at Franklin. We will not be supplying our materials to Franklin until they regain their certification. If you check in an item and it wants to route to Franklin to fill a request, do not send the item. Use check in and do not fulfill hold.
2) If someone has the PTYPE of Franklin (meaning they live in Franklin) and they try to check out an item, we will get the following message:
Loan rule says "non circulating" and we will get a choice to Override or Do Not override.
DO NOT OVERRIDE IN THIS CASE! Explain to the user that they are welcome to use our library. We love having them! We would urge that they contact their local town officials and lobby for the recertification of their library.
This will probably not come up very often. The numbers show that there were only 136 checkouts to Franklin residents at Waltham in FY11.
Questions? Let me know!
Let's hope Franklin gets their certification soon!
Decertified Libraries--no cards for Franklin residents
Non-Certified Municipalities & Libraries
The municipalities below are not certified for State Aid to Public Libraries. There are 3 reasons why a municipality & its library may not be certified for State Aid to Public Libraries: its library may not have applied, its library may have been inegligible to apply, or its library did not receive a waiver of the Municipal Appropriation Requirement. Any municipality that does not have library service is automatically ineligible to apply for certification.Municipalities that did not apply, or were ineligible, were not certified as of January 1, 2012. Municipalities that are denied a MAR Waiver will be not certified as of February 6, 2012.
- Alford - did not apply - last applied FY1988
- Bridgewater - did not apply - last applied FY2008
- Fitchburg - did not apply - last applied FY2008
- Franklin - denied a waiver of the FY2012 MAR
- Hancock - did not apply - last applied FY1975
- Millville - denied a waiver of the FY2012 MAR
- Monroe - did not apply - has never applied
- New Ashford - ineligible - no library service
- Norton - did not apply - last applied FY2010
- Savoy - did not apply - has never applied
- Tyringham - did not apply - last applied 1961
If someone comes to the desk with a Franklin address, we will not be issuing him or her a card. We also will not lend out to library users who live in Franklin.
Here is the scoop: We do not issue cards to residents of the non-certified library towns. We encourage them to speak with their city officials and urge that the library be recertified. This list will also be in the Circulation Update Notebooks
And, if you have a lot of time on your hands, please read the following:
me » Circulation Reference Documents
Procedures for service to patrons of non-certified libraries
Submitted by ssaul on Tue, 02/14/2012 - 12:17pm
It is up to
the individual library’s policy (as voted by the Board of Trustees of
the public libraries) whether an individual library chooses to provide
service to libraries that have lost their certification. (Louise's note: Waltham does not provide service to libraries that have lost their certification).
This service can be either direct loans to residents of the decertified town, or Network Transfers to the library in the decertified towns.
For more information from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, see:
• When a Public Library is Not Certified
http://mblc.state.ma.us/grants/state_aid/faqs/sa_denial_of_cert.php
• When Neighboring Municipalities Are Not Certified for State Aid to Public Libraries
http://mblc.state.ma.us/grants/state_aid/faqs/sa_neighboring_municipalit...
To assist libraries in carrying out their own policies toward decertified libraries, Minuteman will do the following as soon as possible after notification of decertification:
Patron Records
Patron variable field message : Franklin resident Done 2/3/2012
For residents of Franklin (as determined by the PTYPE in the patron record), we will insert a Message “Franklin patron” that will pop up in a dialog box when a Franklin patron record is called up. Staff will need to respond to the OK in order to continue. This message is simply to inform staff that this is a Franklin patron. The library’s individual policy should then be followed regarding service to this patron.
Coding for statistics of circulation to decertified patrons Done 2/3/2012
For the purpose of reporting in the ARIS report, we will code the patron records of residents of Franklin with a “d – decertified” in the Decade field of the patron record.
Franklin Patron Template Done 2/3/2012
The new patron template for the Franklin library will be updated to reflect the above 2 fields.
The following steps will be taken as we are notified of the policy of individual libraries.
Network Transfer
Paging of items for Network Transfer
Network Transfers at Check In
At Check In, when prompted to fill a Hold, staff must pay close attention to the indication of where the Hold is being sent. If the message says “to be picked up at Franklin”, then staff should respond: “Check in, do not fulfill hold” if their library has voted not to serve Franklin.
In the case of an incorrect response (Fulfill hold) to this prompt, the item will have been set In Transit to Franklin and the Hold will now be an item-level hold. The In Transit status can be cleared by checking in the item a second time, and responding “Check in, do not fulfill hold”. Then, notify Franklin that the Hold will not be filled so that they can cancel it and re-place if appropriate.
Time line
Changes to the Patron records will be made as soon as possible after decertification of a library.
However, due to the many requests already in the system, and the necessity to inform patron of the new restrictions, the month of February will be considered a transition. Libraries may continue to fill Network Transfers and to check out materials to Franklin patrons on a one-time exception, until the patrons have become aware of the new restrictions.
Changes to the Priority Paging tables will be made once the votes are known for all of the Minuteman libraries regarding service to decertified libraries, or as we are notified of individual library policies.
Note: If Franklin patrons request material for pickup at a library that has voted not to serve them, the system will not block the request. The first time this occurs, staff should go ahead and check out the material to the patrons, but explain that for the future, the Franklin patrons must place their holds for pick up at Franklin (or any other library that is continuing to provide service to a decertified library).
Express Lane transactions
Libraries that are not providing service to Franklin patrons, and that wish to have Franklin patron transactions blocked so that they cannot use the Express Lane stations should so notify Central Site. A Loan Rule determiner entry will be made to cause the system to use the NonCirc Loan Rule for Franklin patrons at the given library.
NOTE: We do not recommend overriding for checkouts to Franklin patrons once this configuration change has been made. If you do so, the system will use Loanrule #1 which says:
Loan Period: 1 day
Time to pickup: 8 days
Renewals: 0
Daily fine rate: $2
Maximum fine: $20
The following statement was approved by the Minuteman Executive Committee to describe the role of the network with regard to decertified libraries:
Any changes in borrowing rules to decertified libraries implemented
by the Minuteman Library Network are a result of votes taken by the
individual governing boards (library trustees) of member libraries.
Questions or comments on these decisions should be directed to the
specific library, or to the Massachusetts Board of Library
Commissioners.
This service can be either direct loans to residents of the decertified town, or Network Transfers to the library in the decertified towns.
For more information from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, see:
• When a Public Library is Not Certified
http://mblc.state.ma.us/grants/state_aid/faqs/sa_denial_of_cert.php
• When Neighboring Municipalities Are Not Certified for State Aid to Public Libraries
http://mblc.state.ma.us/grants/state_aid/faqs/sa_neighboring_municipalit...
To assist libraries in carrying out their own policies toward decertified libraries, Minuteman will do the following as soon as possible after notification of decertification:
Patron Records
Patron variable field message : Franklin resident Done 2/3/2012
For residents of Franklin (as determined by the PTYPE in the patron record), we will insert a Message “Franklin patron” that will pop up in a dialog box when a Franklin patron record is called up. Staff will need to respond to the OK in order to continue. This message is simply to inform staff that this is a Franklin patron. The library’s individual policy should then be followed regarding service to this patron.
Coding for statistics of circulation to decertified patrons Done 2/3/2012
For the purpose of reporting in the ARIS report, we will code the patron records of residents of Franklin with a “d – decertified” in the Decade field of the patron record.
Franklin Patron Template Done 2/3/2012
The new patron template for the Franklin library will be updated to reflect the above 2 fields.
The following steps will be taken as we are notified of the policy of individual libraries.
Network Transfer
Paging of items for Network Transfer
- MLN will adjust the Priority Paging tables to prevent paging of items with a Franklin pickup location from libraries that have decided not to serve decertified libraries
- MLN will adjust the Priority Paging tables to prevent paging of items from Franklin when the pickup location is a library that has voted not to serve the decertified library.
Network Transfers at Check In
At Check In, when prompted to fill a Hold, staff must pay close attention to the indication of where the Hold is being sent. If the message says “to be picked up at Franklin”, then staff should respond: “Check in, do not fulfill hold” if their library has voted not to serve Franklin.
In the case of an incorrect response (Fulfill hold) to this prompt, the item will have been set In Transit to Franklin and the Hold will now be an item-level hold. The In Transit status can be cleared by checking in the item a second time, and responding “Check in, do not fulfill hold”. Then, notify Franklin that the Hold will not be filled so that they can cancel it and re-place if appropriate.
Time line
Changes to the Patron records will be made as soon as possible after decertification of a library.
However, due to the many requests already in the system, and the necessity to inform patron of the new restrictions, the month of February will be considered a transition. Libraries may continue to fill Network Transfers and to check out materials to Franklin patrons on a one-time exception, until the patrons have become aware of the new restrictions.
Changes to the Priority Paging tables will be made once the votes are known for all of the Minuteman libraries regarding service to decertified libraries, or as we are notified of individual library policies.
Note: If Franklin patrons request material for pickup at a library that has voted not to serve them, the system will not block the request. The first time this occurs, staff should go ahead and check out the material to the patrons, but explain that for the future, the Franklin patrons must place their holds for pick up at Franklin (or any other library that is continuing to provide service to a decertified library).
Express Lane transactions
Libraries that are not providing service to Franklin patrons, and that wish to have Franklin patron transactions blocked so that they cannot use the Express Lane stations should so notify Central Site. A Loan Rule determiner entry will be made to cause the system to use the NonCirc Loan Rule for Franklin patrons at the given library.
NOTE: We do not recommend overriding for checkouts to Franklin patrons once this configuration change has been made. If you do so, the system will use Loanrule #1 which says:
Loan Period: 1 day
Time to pickup: 8 days
Renewals: 0
Daily fine rate: $2
Maximum fine: $20
The following statement was approved by the Minuteman Executive Committee to describe the role of the network with regard to decertified libraries:
Any changes in borrowing rules to decertified libraries implemented
by the Minuteman Library Network are a result of votes taken by the
individual governing boards (library trustees) of member libraries.
Questions or comments on these decisions should be directed to the
specific library, or to the Massachusetts Board of Library
Commissioners.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
15 minute spaces applies to handicapped plates too
We had a gentleman today who wanted to know if the 15 minute spaces would be limited to 15 minutes if:
There was no other space available
He had handicapped plates
I told him that my feeling was, yes, that even with handicapped plates, the 15 minute space would be monitored and that if one stayed for more than 15 minutes, there would be the risk of getting a ticket. Luckily, the person's van driver moved the vehicle to another space that had become available. The person was worried that he would have trouble getting into the van from the angle of this alternate space. The driver, however, was able to move the van to an area that worked for his passenger.
I called the parking clerk who confirmed that, indeed, the 15 minute space time limit applies to everyone.
There was no other space available
He had handicapped plates
I told him that my feeling was, yes, that even with handicapped plates, the 15 minute space would be monitored and that if one stayed for more than 15 minutes, there would be the risk of getting a ticket. Luckily, the person's van driver moved the vehicle to another space that had become available. The person was worried that he would have trouble getting into the van from the angle of this alternate space. The driver, however, was able to move the van to an area that worked for his passenger.
I called the parking clerk who confirmed that, indeed, the 15 minute space time limit applies to everyone.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Barcodes on the front....check carefully
Reminder from Anne: Barcodes are on the front now and it is still important to check the books....she has found books that are damaged getting checked in. Of course, don't get me started about checking the pockets and removing the cards. Look at this:
This Clint Eastwood title was checked in with ugly, moldy looking stuff on the edges and falling apart. Clint said, "Go ahead. Make my day." And that did not do it!!!!
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